The terrorist attack on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole in Aden harbor in 2000 provided a devastating example of what a small group of terrorists can do to a modern warship with minimal resources—in the case of the USS Cole, two terrorists in a small boat carrying a few hundred pounds of explosives came close to sinking a billion dollar warship.
The success of the attack on the Cole has given rise to another, even more disturbing concern—that a large number of high speed boats, each packed with explosives and manned by suicide bombers, could create a “small boat swarm” which could overwhelm the defenses of a warship, particularly in restricted waters where reaction time and maneuverability may be limited. Indeed, recent wargame simulations suggest that such swarm tactics could prove extremely effective against naval battle groups operating in the narrow waters of the Persian Gulf.
It is currently believed that such “small boat swarm” tactics are best countered with fast, similarly-sized, highly-maneuverable and heavily-armed attack craft which can establish a defensive perimeter at a safe distance from the naval battle group. To this end, appropriately-outfitted Zodiac-type craft have already been deployed for this purpose. However, experience has shown that Zodiac-type craft are only practical in the relatively calm waters of a harbor.
This is because operating Zodiac-type craft at high speed in the turbulent waters of the open sea imposes excessive physical stresses on the crews that can only be withstood for short periods of time. Furthermore, the defensive perimeter should, ideally, be established at a substantial distance from the battle group (e.g., at least 10 miles out), in order to give the battle group sufficient time to react in the event that any of the small boat swarm should penetrate the defensive perimeter established by the Zodiac-type craft. However, due to their light construction, limited operating time at high speeds, and limited fuel-carrying capacity, Zodiac-type craft are not capable of maintaining a reliable defensive perimeter so far out from the battle group. In practice, with Zodiac-type craft, the defensive perimeter must generally be maintained much closer to the battle group, with the consequent loss of reaction time.
It has been suggested that attack helicopters might be used to protect a naval battle group when it is at sea or at anchor. However, attack helicopters generally have relatively limited range and, perhaps more importantly, relatively limited sortie time, which effectively prevents them from maintaining a reliable defensive perimeter a substantial distance out from the battle group. Furthermore, attack helicopters generally have substantial radar, infrared and visual “signatures”, thereby making them relatively easy to detect and target.
Thus, there is a need for a new and improved fleet protection attack craft which can be used to maintain a defensive perimeter a safe distance out from a naval battle group. In this respect, it should be appreciated that such a craft should be small, fast, highly-maneuverable and heavily-armed. Furthermore, the craft should provide a stable platform even when running at high speed in substantial ocean swells, whereby to minimize physical stress on the crew and to provide a stable weapons platform. Further, the craft should be capable of remaining on station for a substantial period of time, in order to maintain a reliable defensive perimeter at a safe distance from the battle group.
There is also a need for a new and improved craft which can be used for reconnaissance, and/or to deliver small teams of special forces behind enemy lines and/or to extract the same. Thus, the craft should also be capable of “stealth mode” operation, i.e., it should have small radar, infrared, visual and noise signatures, thereby making it difficult to detect and target.